Workshop

Objectives of the workshop

The E-Learning Maturity Model (Marshall and Mitchell 2002, 2003, 2004) provides a means by which institutions can assess their capability to sustainably develop, deploy and support e-learning. By adopting a Capability Maturity Model (Paulk et al. 1993) approach to assessing e-learning capability, institutions can assess their ability to sustain e-learning in a manner that does not depend on the technologies and pedagogies chosen. This model has been successfully piloted in New Zealand (Marshall and Mitchell 2005; Marshall 2005) and used to both guide individual institutions¹ understanding of their e-learning capability as well as provide useful information on the New Zealand tertiary sector as a whole.

This workshop will provide an opportunity to explore how the model works and to experience the process of conducting assessments. This workshop is intended to be collegial in manner, providing an opportunity for participants to both learn about the model as it has been developed to date but also an opportunity to engage with the design, processes and practices of the model so as to make it relevant to Australian and International institutions and e-learning experiences.

Important note

Participants in the workshop will be invited to consent to allow the recording and ongoing use of their contributions and improvements to the model. Not consenting will in no way affect your ability to participate in this workshop or to make use of the model and outcomes of this work. Ethics approval for this data collection has been obtained.

Workshop preparation

While the workshop is designed to deliver its objectives without any preparation on the part of attendees, you may find that you get more out of the experience with a little preparation.

The focus of the eMM is on e-learning quality, but what quality means can vary depending on particular contexts and institutional goals. Many institutions will have some sense of what e-learning quality means in their context (for example QUT: http://www.talss.qut.edu.au/tcf/).

In order to get the most out of the workshop we suggest that you consider what defines e-learning quality in your own institutional context and whether there are descriptions of what e-learning quality means that your institution has created. If such documents exist, then we recommend you bring a copy to refer to during the workshop.

If you are struggling for inspiration, you may wish to refer to some of these documents which describe e-learning quality.

Workshop format

The main part of the workshop will be conducted through groupwork, with the participants divided up into groups of 5-6 people.

The workshop will include the following activities:

• Examination of the individual processes and practices in order to refine and develop them for Australian and International contexts and to identify additional process and practices that can be included.
• Applying the eMM to a hypothetical institution so as to build an understanding of how the model works in practice and could be applied for any institution.

These will include ample opportunities for discussion and feedback on the model and its utility for Australian and international contexts.

Workshop documents

These are the key documents used in the various eMM workshops. Not all of these will be used in particular workshops.